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Longmont celebrates Cinco de Mayo

Longmont Times-Call

Posted:
05/04/2013 05:36:33 PM MDT

Updated:
05/05/2013 09:52:42 PM MDT

LONGMONT -- On Saturday, Longmont's Roosevelt Park once again turned out to be the place that families could head for, if they wanted a May day's offerings of food, musical and dance performances, and a variety of free handouts from booths by government agencies, nonprofit and community groups, businesses and religious organizations.

The occasion: Longmont's 11th annual version of Cinco de Mayo, a festival that originated as a commemoration of the Mexican militia's May 5, 1862, victory over French forces in the Mexican state capital city of Puebla.

It's also "a great way to kick off the spring," said Longmont festival co-chairman Louie Lopez.

Three days earlier, a storm blanketed Longmont with more than 7 inches of snow. But there were no drifts to be seen on Roosevelt Park's lawns Saturday morning.

"It's a beautiful day!" Lopez proclaimed.

Judging by the numbers of large ears of roasted corn on the cob that could be seen being waved by people who bought them at a stand inside the park pavilion, that -- along with tacos, pizzas and other foodstuffs -- were treats that drew many to the event.

"We came for the food," said Longmont's Sandra Orona, who brought her four children, ages 9 to 12, as well as her 6-month-old granddaughter.

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A family who traveled all the way north from their Denver home to see the Longmont festival -- Sergio and Zulma Barraza and their 7-year-old daughter Karely, had two dressed-up Chihuahuas in tow, 11/2-year old Chito and his 11/2-year-old mate, Chita.

But the Barrazas said they weren't entering their dogs in the Longmont Cinco de Mayo's Chihuahua beauty contest -- the festival's annually popular fund-raising event hosted by the "I Have A Dream Foundation."

Cesar Valdez, of Dia y Noche Restaraunt, located at Ninth Avenue and Lashley Street, prepares a hot dog for a customer during the Cinco de Mayo celebration at Roosevelt Park on Saturday.
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LEWIS GEYER
)

"We're just here to watch" Longmont's Cinco de Mayo, Sergio Barraza said. "We learned about it on TV."

Other attractions included the Touch of Price Car Club's third annual car show, where some of the featured vehicles actually were available to be bought.

Bob Cottrell of Commerce City, though, said that as of early Saturday afternoon, he hadn't gotten any takers for his offer to sell a vintage 1954 Chevrolet Bel Air -- equipped with a Power Glide transmission and having only about 52,000 original miles on its odometer -- for the $19,000 he was asking for the four-door sedan.

Boulder County Commissioner Deb Gardner took to the festival stage's microphone to urge people to volunteer to help with the Boulder County Latino History Project, which she said offers an opportunity to interview the county's elderly Latino residents and get them to share their stories -- "before they're gone" and before those recollections are lost.

Carmen Ramirez of the Latino History Project told Longmont Cinco de Mayo celebrants that "the Latino community has been here for generations," but "many times you won't find our histories in textbooks."

Long-time Longmont community activist Dan Benavidez, another of Saturday's festival-goers, said that 20 or 30 years ago, he wouldn't have thought Longmont would ever produce such large and diverse crowds to an event that's usually associated with people of Mexican heritage.

"It's amazing how far we've come," Benavidez said, "and how the Longmont community has come together."

Now, Benavidez said, "Longmont has one of the better fiestas of this kind in the whole state."

At least some Cinco de Mayo attendees also got reminders that Saturday's event won't be the community's only spring or summer attraction.

Mandi Larson, an Erie High School junior who's the 2013 Boulder County fair queen, and Malinda DeBell, a Colorado State University sophomore and former Boulder County 4-H member who is this year's county fair lady-in-waiting, were handing out invitations for people to join them at this year's Aug. 1-Aug. 11 county fair.

"We do support Hispanic Heritage," Larson said, and the handouts she and Bell were distributing on Saturday that this year's Boulder County Fair will include a Sunday, Aug. 11, Hispanic Heritage Day.

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